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4.29.2012

Mission: First carp on the fly

Status: Complete

Mission details:

April 29, 2012 – 11:30 am to 3:30pm

My latest obsession has been to catch a carp on the fly. Up until this morning, I had spent hours
researching and tying flies, but not catching. The last time that I went out, I was fishing
a spot with a ton of carp, but just wasn’t able to hook up. After that trip, I got in touch with carp on the fly angler and blogger, Trevor,
over at Fly Carpin.
After describing my failures with him, he gave me a few suggestions that I was
eager to put to the test.

The first thing he told me was to try a different fly for the type of
water I was fishing. That fly is called the backstabber and his suggested color
was a black/olive combo. With that, I headed out to the store to pick up some materials and
tied a few up.

After breakfast this morning, it was time to put his advice into action. I went to a different spot
that I know has a large population of carp that tend to hang there from spring
until late fall. This was my first trip there this year so I wasn’t sure if
they had moved in yet. Luckily, my uncertainty only lasted a few minutes before I
saw several carp cruising the shallows. I slowly waded into a position that would
allow me decent casting room and the largest available area to target.

At first, I was basically blind casting. My retrieve was a single quick
strip followed by a long pause. Within a few minutes, I felt my first tug on
the next strip after the pause and set the hook. It was pretty easy to figure out
the fish wasn’t a carp and I quickly brought in a nice little sunfish.

Sunfish

Just a few casts later, it was fish on again. This fish felt bigger...could
it be? Nope – instead a nice pound or so river bass came to hand. I snapped a quick picture and went back to
casting.

A pound or so bass

After several more casts, I found myself fighting another bass that
turned out to be a bit bigger and even scrappier.

a bit bigger....

After I released that bass, I was checking my leader and knot when I saw a golden bullet cruising about ten feet
from me and he looked like he was on the hunt. I flicked the fly out there and it landed about six inches from his
face. Trevor had told me that if you get a fly close to a carp, pay attention
to the gills because they are like vacuums and can suck in a fly from quite a
distance. Sure enough, I watched this carp’s gills open up and suck in my fly. I set the hook and instantly knew it was game on! Within ten
seconds I had just watched thirty feet of line scream off of my reel. I laughed in excitement as
this fish raced towards deeper water. I could feel every thump of his tail resonate
through the nine foot fly rod.

This was it…it was happening; my first “freshwater bonefish” and
holy crap was it living up to its reputation!!! After a few minutes, I started to gain some ground and then realized that I needed to find a good spot to
land this thing. After a quick scan of the shore, I found my spot and started working my way over there. Five minutes after it had started, I landed my first carp
on the fly. I set up my camera, snapped a picture, and let the beast go.

First carp on the fly! What a rush!!

I let out a big, "YEAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!" and tied on a fresh leader. Now that I had one, I wanted more! I started casting and quickly landed a few more bass.

Little feller

A solid 3lb'er and full of eggs

Another nice bass

Also full of eggs

Final bass of the day!

After the fifth bass, I decided
to move a bit more downstream to find some fresh targets. As I stalked the bank, I spotted another carp cruising. I laid out a
nice cast and saw him turn towards the fly. I waited a few seconds for him to
suck it up and set the hook – FISH ON!!!!!!!!!!! Once again the reel was
screaming and I was giggling. All of a sudden, it stopped and started racing
right back at me. I did my best to keep up but I just wasn’t fast enough and he
managed to spit the hook.

I regrouped and saw a big carp jumping in the same area about fifty yards upstream. I quickly made my way closer and
started casting. On the fourth or fifth attempt, I felt some weight when I
stripped the line, set the hook, and went to battle with the third carp!

This
fish felt massive and it was peeling line quicker than any fish thus far! I looked down at my watch and noted the
time of 3:18. Around 3:23, I had to switch hands because my wrist was burning! After
a minute of shaking it off, I switched hands again and started reeling this
thing in. It got about ten feet away and I got my first glimpse – this fish was
massive. I started pulling him towards the shallow flat and apparently he did
not like that because almost as soon as his belly touched the shallow river bottom, he took
off. Once again, the drag was screaming and all of a sudden, the fly came shooting back at me!!!!!!!

SON OF A BEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After eight
solid minutes of fighting, I had just lost a monster. I took a minute to
collect myself, inspected the fly and instantly regretted not tying this fly
on the recommended Gamakatsu SL45 bonefish hook. Instead I opted for a cheaper
hook that just wasn’t up to the task.That decision cost me a huge fish. Lesson learned.

At that moment, I decided to call it a day and started the trek through
the woods back to the truck. I reflected on the day as I walked and could do nothing but
smile.What an awesome day.

I love it! I can't wait to get in on a carp. By the way, Bill Trussell did a review of your blog, and that's how I found it. I really like the pictures. Keep it coming! I'm followin' you now, buddy.Here's me: http://sparetimefish.blogspot.com/.

Oh man, you have gone over to the dark side now! There is no looking back and the only thing you will be thinking of is Carp, Carp, Carp!That being said, man that rocks you got into some carp. Try the fly swap next year with Trevor, its awesome and you will be introduced to some great Carpohoics.

Thanks for the comment, Lonny! I have to admit - I had a hard time steering my truck towards the office instead of to the river for more carp action! By next year, I hope to have a signature carp fly and would love to jump in the swap

Pretty sweet Nick, what a great way to get going and sorry about your impending ruin. The Gamakatsu SL45 is pretty expensive but has a perfect gape to length ratio for many carp flies and you will not bend it out. Only had one fail on me EVER and that hook had caught 14 carp above 10 pounds before it gave up and snapped.

This is why I follow your blog, to read great warm water post like this. An awesome trip and the crap landing is even better. From the looks of the butt of that fly rod you was I would say you had be using something 5 wt and above. Great Post!

You'll get the hang of it. My friend Bob Long had a zero weight fly rod custom made. He uses it on carp. After 15 minutes of watching him trying to land a carp, I have to walk away. It's like torture to watch. He usually succeeds.

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